After a year of many public holidays, another few have passed. With the girls still in China, I've had a few weekends and evenings to myself, though work was still fairly busy. Apart from running, I watched a few movies and did some reading. There was also a bike ride through some tea plantations in Tigoni, not far from Nairobi. Nairobi is fairly quiet without much traffic as most people all go back to their villages in the countryside for Christmas, and some head off for vacations on the coast or elsewhere.
Aside from the odd pop-up Christmas shop and aisle here and there, there's not too much in the way of Christmas decorations around town, at least not compared to Europe or the US, though in some way its nice not for it to be too commercial (and waste money on trees and lights everywhere in a poor country). Still, as many Kenyans are fairly religious (mostly Christians, some some muslims), millions of WhatsApp messages were sent at Christmas.
During the last two weeks a friend has adopted me into her family - with her two sisters as well as various spouses and children around - so I went over for drinks one night, Christmas Lunch one day, and away for two nights over New Year around Lake Naivasha.
Christmas was most notable for finding a Christmas Pudding from a local Kenyan company in a tin: after boiling it for an hour and setting the brandy around it on fire, it wasn't too bad (the custard helped). There were also mince pies, a ginormous turkey and much more besides. Various interesting people were there from the UN, media and even a politician.
The night before New Year's Eve we stayed at Olerai House, a farm owned by a couple who run the Save the Elephants NGO. The rooms and houses (including a converted dairy) are beautifully decorated and Oria, the owner, is a wonderful, fascinating and incredible hostess who is a delight to talk to. The food is very good (much is grown in their own organic farm). There are also plenty of swings from the trees and a swimming pool. The large conservancy borders the lake and has hundreds of zebra, gazelle, monkeys, warthogs and hippos amongst many other animals which walk right next to the houses and people. I had a wonderful run doing laps of the airstrip and even saw a baby hippo.
For New Year's Eve we stayed at Sanctuary Farm, also on the lake, with a stables that has been converted into a dozen rooms or so, and a clubhouse that now serves as a restaurant since the polo ground is no longer used. We went Horse riding which was a great way of getting close to the animals on the farm, especially the zebras and wildebeest who let you get very close when you are on a horse (and its safer than being on foot). We had a very nice New Year's Eve dinner before the fireworks and in the morning did the hour-long climb up to the crater at Mount Longonot, two years since I was last there.
There are so many wonderful cottages and farmhouses in Kenya, though these may be some of the best around that area. They all have so much history and their owners have a lot of character. They provide a nice getaway from the city and interesting people to talk to, as well as a place to relax right next to the animals. I'll certainly have to bring the family back another time.
